Words, usages, and phrases that annoy the shit out of you...

I really, really hate when writers (and I'm seeing it a lot in manuscripts I edit) use the word "prior" when they could use "before." It's a romance novel, not a contract.

controversial take ahoy but referring to the pandemic as "the end of the world"

I don't think I usually take much notice when someone says out loud "a couple __________" rather than "a couple of __________".

When reading, though, that missing "of" makes me (irrationally?) angry.

Happy belated birthday

Motherfucker the birthday was on time

omg yes
this has started to bother me more and more. clearly not enough other stuff to worry about, eh, brain?

I fucking hate getting PR emails offering me an "Advanced Download" of an upcoming album. What's advanced about it, exactly? These are often the same idiots who will offer me a "Sneak Peak" at a new music video.

imo the "belated" has implied apologetic brackets around it

the reaction is worth the annoyance tho

yeah i still dont see how the placement is correct tho

just scans better, bb

hbb

yeah i still dont see how the placement is correct tho

Two reasons. Because opinion adjectives precede age ones in the English order of adjectives, which is an implicit ordering people know and use with being really aware of it. But more importantly, because language does not proceed from logic so logical analyses will not lead you to the "correct" way to say things in a language.

Thanks

Its referring to the birthday which isnt an opinion and its incorrect

"happy" is the opinion adjective though

I believe f. hazel is saying the more logical "belated happy birthday" isn't common because it violates the naturalized adjective order

Hmm not to my ear at all

What a world

I have a new theory

since belated can mean "existing or appearing past the normal or proper time," I think these people wish you dead

"Belated birthday" is a noun phrase. "Happy" modifies that noun phrase.

It's not that you're wishing someone a birthday that is both belated AND happy.

They can't go back in time to have a happier birthday than they already did. So you're wishing them happiness while also acknowledging that you're doing so belatedly.

i’d say the “happy birthday” is a noun phrase and so shouldn’t be split up i.e. “and a belated ‘happy birthday’ to you” - that scans, feels right, and has the benefit of being logical

what also sticks in the craw is that the lateness of the wishing is literally interfering with the wish itself linguistically. just wish me a happy birthday, properly, and apologise to me about it separately

one thing I think we can agree on is that the proper response to this phrase is "get fucked"

tracer otm re noun phrase. the 'happy' is not functioning as a pure adjective per the adjective order there.

rob otm that the person saying it to you is not your friend, therefore by definition they cannot wish you anything because they are dead to u.

wow i'm never gonna wish anyone a happy belated birthday again in case one of them turns out to be you fucks

j/k

our work here is done

Worse than any of the belated wishing is people, and belated love to ye all, saying "noun phrase" like it means anything other than excusing this awfulness

If anything "happy birthday" is imperative tbh

So "get fucked" is actually the correct response even when the wish is timely

get belated fucked

fellated happy birthday

get belated fucked

― superdeep borehole (harbl), Wednesday, April 14, 2021 1:52 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

lmao

have I belatedly told you all that I love you?

fuck off with this “timeline” bullshit already

ugh yeah

huge cringe the time or two i've heard someone say it out loud irl

anyway i think it makes a lot of sense that his market worth is so huge because he's basically an avatar for the continued dominance of car culture. it's certainly not because he's competent in any way. he's kind of a similar figure to trump in the sense of being a stand-in for the relevance of a huge reactionary industry where his incompetence is a feature. like his real asset is just the fact that he's a stupid blowhard true believer.

haha wrong thread

think the first i heard of of 'c-suites' was when (otherwise beloved) max used it to defend gawker's outing of some rando

anyway it's probably fine and useful but nevertheless i hate it

I don't know what the C stands for but I have my own headcanon

"well, here's where we netted out with that"

What does that mean?

i don’t know who needs to hear this, but if you’re not ____________, you’re doing it wrong

"I don't know who needs to hear this"

well, probably someone who doesn't actually follow your posts

Patriot

What does that mean?

kind of like "after taking everything into consideration"... "net" in the sense of "what's left over after costs". "where did you guys net out on that?" like.. when all's said and done, what did you end up deciding?

it's totally horrific obv

TH owns this thread btw.

an extremely dubious distinction but i'll take it!

Or rather, your workplace owns this thread. You are merely the whistleblower.

twinkle fingers